Posted: 03/20/24
/5
16 Comments
This Mexican chicken casserole is totally packed to the brim with incredible flavors and mouth-pleasing textures. A creamy filling of shredded chicken, black beans, fire-roasted tomatoes, and cheddar soup is layered between crispy tortilla chips and melty Mexican cheese, supplying you with a little bit of all the pieces in every bite. It’s the short and simple, family-friendly one-dish recipe you’ll need to make over and yet again!
🔥 What Makes This Recipe So Good
- This incredible (and incredibly easy) chicken casserole features 6 layers of essentially the most delicious ingredients for tons of Mexican-inspired flavor. Black beans, fire-roasted tomatoes, whole kernel corn, chili powder, cheddar soup (or fiesta nacho cheddar soup!), green chilies, sour cream, tortilla chips… It’s like an enormous dish of deconstructed nachos.
- Since this casserole starts out with already-cooked chicken, it’s perfect for using up any leftover chicken you would possibly have readily available. I also like to simply grab a rotisserie chicken from Costco on really busy days – it’s really easy to shred it up and throw it in here. If you’re not within the mood for Mexican chicken, try making your casserole with taco-seasoned ground beef, carnitas, or skip the meat entirely and double up the beans. We love a flexible recipe!
- The crushed tortilla chips give the casserole a extremely lovely crunchy texture that plays off the creamy filling, tender meat & veggies, and ooey, gooey melted cheese so nicely. You won’t feel such as you’re just eating spoonfuls of mush!
- Not only do the tortilla chips give the dish a pleasant texture, they could be an amazing source of added flavor. Use hint of lime tortilla chips and even nacho cheese or cool ranch Doritos to change things up!
👩🏼🍳 Chef’s Tips
- The chicken starts out already cooked and shredded, so you’ll have to prep that first. If you need to cook chicken specifically to your Mexican chicken casserole, I highly recommend either this 3 Ingredient Slow Cooker Mexican Shredded Chicken or my best ever shredded chicken. You may even throw in a bit of little bit of chicken taco seasoning for more oomph.
- You’ll be tempted to dive in as soon as you’re taking the Mexican chicken casserole out of the oven. Resist! Seriously. Give it no less than 5 minutes – 10 should you can stand it – to rest and funky a bit of. There’s lots of heat in all those layers, and should you burn your tongue you’ll miss all the flavour you’ve been waiting for. Plus, you’ll give the layers time to establish a bit of, so it won’t fall to pieces if you serve it.
- You’re in total control of the warmth here, so dial it up or down as that you must. I don’t find this casserole to be particularly spicy, but you could be more sensitive. Reduce the chili powder if that you must, or halve the quantity of green chilies, or keep on with cheddar soup as an alternative of fiesta nacho cheese soup. If you like heat, though, be happy so as to add more! Throw in some diced jalapeños. Be a bit of heavy-handed with the chili powder. Add a bit of habanero or hot pepper cheese to the Mexican cheese mix. Don’t be afraid to mess around with the ingredients to search out your favorite flavor combo!
🥘 Delicious Casseroles You Should Try Next
Mexican Chicken Casserole
A creamy filling of chicken, fire-roasted tomatoes, black beans, corn, and cheddar soup are sandwiched between layers of crushed tortilla chips and shredded Mexican cheese for a casserole that is stuffed with wealthy flavors and pleasant textures.
Ingredients
Serving Suggestions (All Optional)
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit.
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Lightly spray casserole dish with neutral cooking spray, ensuring to coat bottom and inner sides of dish. Set casserole dish aside.
For the Chicken Filling
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Add 1 10.5-ounce can condensed cheddar cheese soup, 1 ¼ cups sour cream, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon cumin, ½ teaspoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon saltand freshly cracked black pepper to large mixing bowl. Stir ingredients together until fully incorporated.
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Add 4 cups cooked, shredded chicken, 1 15-ounce can black beans, 1 15.25-ounce can whole kernel corn, 1 14.5-ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoesand 1 4-ounce can diced green chilies to mixing bowl. Gently stir all ingredients together until fully incorporated and well coated in soup mixture. Set bowl aside.
To Assemble the Casserole
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Line bottom of lightly-greased casserole dish with 1 ½ cups crushed tortilla chips. Spread tortilla chips out to cover bottom of casserole dish in a single even layer.
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Divide chicken mixture in half. Top layer of tortilla chips with one half of chicken mixture, gently pressing chicken mixture out into single, even layer, covering bottom of dish completely. Set remaining half of chicken mixture aside.
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Sprinkle 1 cup shredded Mexican cheese mix evenly across top of chicken mixture, breaking up any clumps or especially thick areas.
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Top cheese layer with remaining 1 ½ cups crushed tortilla chipsspreading chips out evenly to completely cover cheese layer.
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Top tortilla chips with remaining half of chicken mixture. Gently press chicken mixture out to cover chips completely in a single even layer.
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Top chicken mixture with remaining 1 cup shredded Mexican cheese mixsprinkling cheese evenly over top of filling.
To Bake the Casserole
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Once all layers have been assembled, place casserole dish in preheated oven. Bake casserole, uncovered, 20 minutes.
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After 20 minutes, check casserole. Continue baking, checking casserole every 2 to three minutes, until top layer of cheese is melted and bubbly.
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Once cheese has melted, rigorously remove casserole dish from oven and put aside. Let casserole rest 5 to 10 minutes or until cooled barely.
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Once casserole has cooled barely, portion casserole into preferred variety of servings. Top each serving with fresh cilantro and sour cream if desired, and serve warm with whole tortilla chips and lime wedges for extra flavor.
Notes
- Heat Levels: I don’t find this dish to be spicy or hot in any respect, but your palate will differ! Adjust the quantity of chili powder within the filling as needed should you’re particularly heat sensitive. You may additionally want to scale back the quantity of diced green chilies.
- Chicken: This is an amazing technique to use up leftover chicken, but you can even use rotisserie chicken or cook and shred chicken specifically to your casserole. Check out my recipe for the perfect shredded chicken ever – it really works beautifully on this dish!
- Fire-Roasted Tomatoes: I like to recommend using the liquid within the can of tomatoes reasonably than draining them. That liquid will give the filling more flavor, plus it’ll help the filling stay moist and creamy.
- Diced Green Chilies: If your tomatoes have lots of liquid, you might wish to drain some or the entire liquid from diced green chilies to maintain the filling from being too wet. Otherwise, use the liquid from can of chilies together with the liquid from the tomatoes.
- Crushed Tortilla Chips: Try to not crush the chips an excessive amount of. The smaller and more pulverized the pieces are, the less crunch you’ll get from them.
- Storage: Let the casserole cool completely, then cover the dish with plastic wrap or an airtight lid. Refrigerate leftovers and revel in inside 4 days.
- Reheat: You can reheat individual servings within the microwave or the oven, or reheat a big portion of the dish within the oven. Preheat your oven to 350°F and bake until the casserole is just warmed through.
Nutrition Information
Serving Size: 1serving, Calories: 417kcal, Protein: 22g, Fat: 20g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Trans Fat: 0.02g, Cholesterol: 68mg, Sodium: 906mg, Potassium: 370mg, Total Carbs: 36g, Fiber: 5g, Sugar: 3g, Net Carbs: 31g, Vitamin A: 546IU, Vitamin C: 4mg, Calcium: 214mg, Iron: 2mg
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